I thought this show was very interesting and thoughtfully put together. In the modern society, we use punishment to discourage behaviour we deem immoral or unethical. This we believe sustains a society to which aligns with our views of the world and ourselves. However, how much of the punishment actually breaks down the morality of the judges and distance our innate want to understand, forgive and help our peers. This show has engaged me in contemplating this very pertinent ethical dilemma we all face. Well done leftovers!

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Curly

4/30/2017 08:32:16 pm

Tommy thank you so much for coming along - it's s so interesting the word punishment - it really had a lot of debate around it. I had some friends come along one night and they too said similar things that does punishment these days actually help? What is punishment - is minor punishment ok? There are some Indigenous Cultures where punishments don't exist but discourse does where the perpetrator and the victim within the tribe speak. I don't know the answer and like you I wonder what punishment actually achieves. I grew up in a strict migrant family where "punishments" were doled out for disobedience and bad behaviour. It was the 80's a different time. I don't know what it achieved, but it has made me disciplined - maybe in an obsessive way and maybe made me unaturally private. I don't know - I too am dealing with lots of questions this concept has bought up. Thank you for taking part.
All Hail your Magnificence Tommy !
xx

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Nick Minas

4/23/2017 04:42:28 pm

To the cast of Encounter my heart.
I really enjoyed the show.
Looking forward to your next production.
Regards
Nick

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LC

4/23/2017 04:56:44 pm

Encounter My Heart, best Leftovers to date. No spoilers, just got strangers talking and everyone thinking. Some of the most poignant theatre of our time.

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Leftovers

4/30/2017 08:50:01 pm

xx

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Nick Woods

4/23/2017 08:17:00 pm

So good. So fucking good. Incredible experience that brings together 11 strangers to discuss and reveal and explore moral quandaries and grey areas. One of the most moving and engaging performance pieces I've seen in a long time.

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Chris

4/24/2017 07:18:24 pm

I am not sure what I feel, probably quite numb. This show or 'experiment' has completely floored me. I never knew what theatre could be. I'm not surprised that this company has sold out this show. Beyond the concept and what we the audience discussed ; the acting was phenomenal. I actually thought it was completely real. I really had to remind myself these are artists not the actual people. I have mainstream stage subscriptions which I will now immediately cancel. Completely still haunted by my decision.
What the fuck ... I think I've just taken part in pure art.

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deLuxter001

4/24/2017 08:09:58 pm

Encounter My Heart, best piece yet by theLeftovers Collective. A fun and interactive art piece that questioned the fate of a human. A big congratulations for the positive outcome and I can't wait to se your next piece!

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Lars

4/24/2017 08:21:34 pm

The moment I walked into the room where you start I loved it. I loved how interactive it was and the part where you got to choose the human's fate. I really wanted to see what the alternative endings were, but you still had to be fair to the person that is in the room with you.
If I had to rate this show out of ten I would rate it ten out of ten.

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Danielle O'Keefe

4/24/2017 09:05:55 pm

Often very little is asked of us, and so it is easy to give very little. Encounter demanded we as an audience participated. The experience will let remain hidden, but your mind will be debate. We are asked to draw lines in the sand. Such a rare and wonderful insight into ourselves and our fellow humans. Thank you leftovers!

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Gautam

4/25/2017 11:44:34 am

What a fantastic show, bravo to the whole crew. And when I say this, I don't mean it in a contrived way - from beginning to end it is an immersive performance from all artists.

I find it fascinating how the simple rhetoric changes make the show so much more powerful and introspective. I'm sure all who go and check it out will feel similarly and enjoy it as much as I did!

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Michael Dean

4/26/2017 07:14:12 pm

I have seen a bunch of Leftovers' shows. They're always amazing, experimental and daring. But this one was the best. A simple conceit in half an hour had such a big impact.

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Nat Richards

4/26/2017 10:41:25 pm

This 'encounter' was my first of the Leftovers' work - and I will now make sure I see everything they do. How can such a little piece be so powerful? This is political theatre at its best, as it was obviously born from the sensitive hearts of its artists. I left feeling challenged, impressed and inspired.

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The Punk

4/29/2017 10:11:47 am

When you enter a space that makes your heart palpitate, you know you're not here for the same old steak. Curly served up a large serving of Honesty with a side of Ethical confusion, for a group split down the middle with their own projections of the world as they know it. Friends who've never fought, heard words they've never heard, strangers took comfort in mutual agreeance, even though "the show" had ended at 10pm, the battle went on for hours on end. Go find another theatre maker stiring up enough shit in an audience as Curly has and I'll pay you $1,000 cash. Well fucking done.

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Mel Skeeps

4/30/2017 10:43:53 am

Leftovers: what a great show. I loved the audience involvement, however found it perplexing how long my peers came to reach the conclusion that i reached almost instantaneously. I grew up in a relatively strict household, which i now am eternally greatful for as i believe i attribute my high moral, respect and forgiving nature. I find that Australians today do not discipline their children enough and wonder why they are left with individuals who are disrespectful, ungreatful and irreverent. Okay rant over. Great thought proking show! Keep up the good work!

One minute I was laughing and joking with my colleagues as we waited for the Leftovers experience. Then I felt awkward and uncomfortable at your line up for the show. This made me think of how the Jewish people of Europe must have been feeling when they were snatched away from their lives with their family, neighbours and friends to be taken to death camps. I felt a wave of sorrow and marvelled at the tenacity of the survivors. Then I felt the ridicule of your guards and thought about the craziness of one group of people telling 'others' that their life choices aren't valid. It felt great to be part of the fierce debate afterwards in the 'courtroom' about justice, mercy, guilt and punishment. We talked about Myuran and his mother Raji and Andrew Chan and their families and fellow prisoners and the work they had done in prison We also debated and discussed various cases at the bar. What an experience! The best Leftovers happening yet. Thank you

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Alexander McIntyre

5/1/2017 06:24:52 pm

Lou, thank you so much for taking the time to speak about your experience. Although confronting, this is what I was hoping the audience would take from the performance. It is all about the conversation, as from the conversation comes education and that in itself is the art work.

Many thanks,
Alex (The Grooming Guard) x

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Mel Hume

5/2/2017 10:22:47 am

I just wanted to say a big congrats to all involved in the show. It was a real experience and such an interesting construct. I was really inspired to see something that brought up a huge spectrum of reactions within myself and collectively with the audience.
It made me ask: Is our justice system and the process of a trial fair? What makes one forgivable? Accountable? And who is worthy to decide? The answers to these are complex and perplexing.
This is the power of art - to make us think and question the world we live in!
Well done. I wish I could have seen every show.

Wow- What a thought provoking show. The Leftovers Collective are using an innovative approach to the way an Audience can Participate in Theatre and Art. Encounter My Heart immediately engulfed the audience into another dimension, whisking us far from our own realities and into the world set before us on stage. Not only did this grab intense attention and energy from the audience but it had us completely invested in the story/art that was about to unfold. This made the experience far more profound and meaningful. Not many performances have the ability to connect so deeply with an audience and leave them feeling so impacted. I was left thinking about the outcome for days to follow. I Liked that I felt so much a part of the show, without feeling uncomfortable. Upon reading The Encounter My Heart pamphlet after the experience, I was very impressed by the amount of thought that had been placed into every aspect of the piece. I'm not surprised the show was booked out every night, it was truly a work of art! Thank you to The Leftovers Collective- I can't wait to see what else you have in store!

Thank you for the work that you, as a collective, presented. I will say that being somewhat weary of the world and most art, in general, I did approach Encounter My Heart with some trepidation. Historically speaking, interactive and immersive theatre - or deeply structure performance art - have never been my 'thing'. I crave both distance and comfortable privacy. I got neither of both. What I did receive was a work of integrity, which despite some humorous aspects - a judge with curlers in his hair (were they pink or crimson or red?) and a guard outside with a helmet so big it covered his eyes and a cutout automatic weapon - did not waste our time with distractions; and though I dreaded the sergeant major outside the courtroom who made us more cowed than when we had been outside, I found the entry to the courtroom to be startling.

It was startling for the banality of the space and the oddity of the banality of guilt's brutality. A near naked man, with a hood - a plastic bag - over his head. I say guilt's brutality for he seemed, in our particular case, to have not done, not acted, when perhaps he could have - the incident that he recounted and was to be judged on whether or not his inaction was forgivable or its opposite. Who wouldn't have felt guilt and deep remorse for the perceived inaction? Maybe a psychopath wouldn't, I suppose.

Perhaps we had not been cowed enough, or brutalised, for in this defendant's case it would have taken an extreme society to have judged him unforgivable. Indeed, as my memory recalls, the only person who voted against forgiveness was a fairly young adult who professed to be an economic rationalist, which could possibly mean that he may be at a stage in his life where he might profess to be a devotee of Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek, and no one's more utopian than a follower of neo-liberals like those fellows, and nothing's more cut and dried for person than when you're a utopian - and nothing's more dangerous for a society, either. Maybe he is a contrarian.

It was a humbling process to give the defendant, the man forgiven, a piece of clothing. Imagine what effect that would be in a society that actually did that. He might be seen as a man forgiven and that society might receive him with wide open and generally loving arms, or he might also be considered, for the motley array of clothing that he would leave in, to either be mentally ill and, hence, perhaps, be re-institutionalised, or he might be the inspiration for next season's haute couture.

Thank you so much for this incredible thought- and conversation- provoking performance. It's almost two weeks later, and I'm still thinking about the case. I wish there was some way in which to watch more scenarios, either as a fly-on-the-wall, or again as an active participant. Looking forward to hearing about how this piece evolves, and hope I get to come into contact with it again. Keep up the amazing work, Leftovers!

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THE LEFTOVERS x

Are a circle of self lead, self initiating artists who are breathlessly consumed with human perception. We conduct intimate social experiments utilising audience intuition. There is a core group of anarchy artists. Each new work individually curates additional artists.